A most excellent story out in @litromagazine.bsky.social from T.L. Huchu featuring that most elusive, under-sung, and under-examined of creatures, the editor, heheh. I felt so seen eish.
#AfricanSFF #booksky 💙📚
ZamaShort Extras: Meet the Author Hussani Abdulrahim! ZamaShort #11 'Gold-Plated Boy'
#AfricanSFF #Africanfuturism #scifi #booksky 🪐📚💙
This is a promotional graphic for an ebook sale. The background is black with decorative gold floral borders running vertically along the left and right edges. At the top, the word “SALE” appears in white with a line through it. Below that, large white text reads: “Smashwords Sale All Titles 50% OFF!* Ends 7th March” In the center is a rectangular banner with a light gray background. At the top of this banner is the Smashwords logo and the phrase “your ebook. your way.” Large bold text in orange and white says: “READ AN EBOOK WEEK.” Below the text is an illustration of a person lying on their stomach while reading a tablet. The person has dark hair and is wearing an orange shirt, light-colored pants, and orange shoes. Small orange heart shapes float near the tablet, suggesting enjoyment. At the bottom of the image, in small white text, it says: “*Except latest release.”
Smashwords Sale: www.smashwords.com/profile/view...
Includes ZamaShort & AfroSF series.
#AfricanLit #AfricanSFF #scifi #fantasy #romance #contemporary #satire #booksky 📚💙
Nana Sule on 'Gold-Plated Boy' by Hussani Abdulrahim
@hussani14.bsky.social ZamaShort #11
“Abdulrahim is a writer of rare imaginative force. In ‘Gold-Plated Boy’, he unites technology, ambition, envy, oppression, and human frailty into a tale...
#AfricanSFF #Africanfuturism #scifi #booksky 🪐📚💙
Excellent and first review for @hussani14.bsky.social Hussani Abdulrahim's 'Gold-Plated Boy' ZamaShort #11 by Ahmad Mubarak Tanimu in JAY lit.
Many thanks Ahmad!
#AfricanSFF #Africanfuturism #scifi #booksky 🪐📚💙
Congrats to T.L. Huchu on the BSFA shortlisting of Secrets of the First School! We loved publishing the prequel short story 'When Two Sorcerers Collide' ZamaShort #7, and greatly look forward to his next endeavour. bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...
#AfricanSFF #fantasy #booksky 📚💙
Book cover ZamaShort #11 ‘Gold-Plated Boy’ by Hussani Abdulrahim. A black background and bold gold title text reading “Gold-Plated Boy.” The letter “O” in “Boy” contains a raised gold hand symbol. Above the title is “ZamaShort” and “Pre-Order,” and below is the author’s name, Hussani Abdulrahim. The design features red, green, and gold African-inspired patterns forming a large inverted triangle, with a blue adinkra symbol centred near the bottom.
Happy Publish Day ZamaShort #11 ‘Gold-Plated Boy’ by Hussani Abdulrahim! @hussani14.bsky.social
More in the thread ---⬇
#AfricanSFF #Africanfuturism #scifi #booksky 🪐📚💙
Book cover ZamaShort #11 ‘Gold-Plated Boy’ by Hussani Abdulrahim. A black background and bold gold title text reading “Gold-Plated Boy.” The letter “O” in “Boy” contains a raised gold hand symbol. Above the title is “ZamaShort” and “Pre-Order,” and below is the author’s name, Hussani Abdulrahim. The design features red, green, and gold African-inspired patterns forming a large inverted triangle, with a blue adinkra symbol centred near the bottom.
ZamaShort #11 ‘Gold-Plated Boy’ by Hussani Abdulrahim @hussani14.bsky.social.
Pre-Order 99c Special! (amazon(s) only).
More in the thread ---⬇
#AfricanSFF #scifi #booksky 🪐📚💙
Next month's release is now all out to subscribers, if you'd like our publications delivered monthly to your inbox, before the retail release, and at a lower price, consider becoming a subscriber!
#AfricanLit #AfricanSFF #scifi #fantasy #romance #contemporary #satire #horror #booksky 📚💙
ZamaShort Excerpts: 'Everyone is a Robot until Proven Otherwise' by Bongani Sibanda. Now up at our home-site, along with all other excerpts to date!
#AfricanSFF #scifi #booksky 🪐📚💙
Repost of our 2025 line-up for your Locus and Hugo consideration.
#scifi #fantasy #AfricanSFF #booksky 🪐📚💙
I’m always thrilled whenever stories from Issue V get love! Congratulations to @shingai-be-like.bsky.social & @formerlykevin.bsky.social!
Read their stories & the rest of this stellar anthology for free on willthisbeaproblem.co.ke
#AfricanSFF #KenyaMentioned
T.L. Huchu's 'When Two Sorcerers Collide' ZamaShort #7 makes Reactor Magazine's Ten(ish) Best African Speculative Short Fiction Stories of 2025. Massive Congrats Tendai! Many thanks @reactorsff.bsky.social!
#AfricanSFF #booksky 🪐📚💙
Huge congratulations to the African writers and editors featured on the 2025 Locus Recommended Reading List
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙🧵
A promotional graphic for Will This Be A Problem? outlining the publication’s 2025 award eligibility set on a dark blue cosmic pattern with greeb accents. The heading reads: Will This Be a Problem? 2025 Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration Sections list eligible categories: - Anthology: Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, edited by Somto Ihezuo and Olivia Kidula (January 2025) - Magazine: Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine: Issue 2, edited by Olivia Kidula (July 2025) - Artist: Peter Marco, with artwork for Issue V & Issue 2 - Novelette: Why Donkeys Have 44 Teeth by Peter Nena (Issue V), and Babies Don’t Grow in People by Peter Nena (Issue 2) Additional eligibility notes read that Olivia Kidula is eligible in Best Editor categories and Will This Be A Problem? is eligible in Best Semiprozine categories. The WTBAP and Shilitza Publishing Group logos appear at the bottom right, and WTBAP’s website link sits near the bottom centre.
A promotional graphic for Will This Be A Problem? showing all the stories from Issue V and Issue V that are eligible for 2025 SFF awards. The background is a dark blue cosmic design with greenaccents. The heading reads: Will This Be a Problem? 2025 Award Eligibility, For Your Consideration. Below is a list of eligible novelettes, short fiction and their authors. Novelette: Why Donkeys Have 44 Teeth by Peter Nena (Issue V) Babies Don’t Grow in People by Peter Nena (Issue 2) Short Fiction (Anthology): - The Sirangori Fey Market by Ephraim N. Orji - I’m Home by Rutendo Chidzodzo - Something Cruel by Gabrielle Emem Harry - Ash Baby by Andrew Dakalira - Dinosaurs Once Lived Here by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu - The Market of Memories by Azara Tswanya - A Song of Ruin by Alex Tamei - Scales and Arabesques by Lucille Sambo - The Clans by Tonny Ogwa - Baby Potion by Matseliso Motsoane - Acceptance by Khaya Maseko - The Language We Have Learned to Carry In Our Skin by Shingai Kagunda - If Memory Serves by Kevin Rigathi - Mr. Original Swag by Victor Forna - Commensalism, or the Labyrinth’s Vessels by Albert Nkereuwem Short Fiction (Magazine): - The Herd by Lucille Sambo - Non-Remembrance by Plangdi Neple - Ritual by Olufunmilayo Makinde - Do The Bop Bop by Azure Arther The WTBAP and Shilitza Publishing Group logos appear at the bottom right, and WTBAP’s website link sits near the bottom centre.
We're grateful to see WTBAP longlisted alongside so much SFF work we admire this award season. The recognition belongs to the writers and artists who trusted us with their vision. If their works stayed with you and you’re nominating, we’d appreciate your consideration.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
Now up on our home site is an excerpt of Carmelo Rafalà's @carmelorafala.bsky.social 'The Clarity of Ice' in honour of its BSFA @bsfa.bsky.social Award 2026 nomination, and for ease of reading for BSFA members, and of course for youse too :).
#AfricanSFF #scifi #booksky 🪐📚💙
A promotional graphic set on a beige background with subtle cosmic illustrations and teal accents titled “Rutendo Chidzodzo | Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration” The image lists one short story published in 2025: I’m Home, Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology | Issue V, January 2025 Main text reads: A brief, second-person narrative of on grief and transformation. The story follows a girl stolen by water spirits and the mother who grieves silently and prays for her return. What unfolds is less a rescue tale than an aching reflection on how encounters with forces beyond the familiar can alter a person, returning homewith edges that no longer fit the old container. The play with second person perspective doubles down on the aspect that this is you in the story. It puts you in the driver’s seat and forces your hands and legs to move along with the characters.
Here’s work published by Rutendo Chidzodzo in 2025. The Zimbabwean writer’s work is eligible in short fiction categories, so if you’re nominating or voting this awards season, we’d be grateful for your support.
Link below.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
A promotional graphic set on a pinkish background with teal accents and subtle cosmic illustrations titled “Azure Arther | 2025 Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration" The image lists one short fiction work: Do The Bop Bop, Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine, July 2025. Main text reads: While analog horror is usually associated with found footage on grainy VHS tapes, Arther skillfully manages to evoke the same feeling on the page with a short that may cause parents to take a second look at just what their children are watching, especially when it seems like the world as we know it is ending. Bop Bop!
@litgalz.bsky.social’s horror short published in our second magazine issue is eligible for awards this season! Please take a moment to read and vote for it in the relevant categories if you haven’t already.
Link below
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
Award eligibility graphic for Shingai Kagunda’s 2025 short story published by Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology. The design is set on a dark blue background with subtle cosmic illustration and teal and orange accents. The title reads: Khaya Maseko | 2025 Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration The graphic lists Acceptance, published in Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, January 2025. Main text reads: In this haunting story, a young girl learns a disturbing secret about those in power and ponders this truth as she grows up to be a journalist and becomes exhausted by reporting on the never-ending violence and exploitation in our society. Kagunda likens the vices of corruption, violence and war to parasitic creatures living under the skins of Kenyan politicians, transferred over to them by the white colonizers. A story that reminds readers about the importance of holding onto our stories, and of oral tradition.
Here’s what you need to know about @shingai-be-like.bsky.social's short fiction published in 2025. The Kenyan writer would appreciate your consideration in the relevant categories this award season. Link below.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
Spotlight: 2025 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot
We’re so thrilled to see Issue V of Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology on the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot for Superior Achievement in an Anthology!
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
Award eligibility graphic for Andrew Dakalira’s 2025 short story published by Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology. Set on a purple and teal cosmic design with planets and stars. The title reads: Andrew Dakalira | 2025 Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration The graphic lists Ash Baby, published in Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, January 2025. Main text reads: Offers a clever reimagining of the Biblical story of Job as a never-ending chain of cruelty and endless victims. A story that feels almost cinematic in its scale: a cosmic battle cracking open reality like a windowpane hit by too much light. Dakalira’s reverence for African spiritual traditions sits beneath the chaos, reminding you that the supernatural in our stories is rarely a departure from belief but an extension of it.
Here’s what you need to know about Andrew C. Dakalira’s short fiction published in 2025. The Malawian writer’s work is eligible in the short story categories this award season, so if you’re nominating or voting, we’d be grateful for your support. Link below.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
A promotional graphic set in a dark blue background with wavy line patterns. At the centre, inside a circular frame, bold text reads “Spotlight: African Works Longlisted for the 2026 BSFA Awards”. The WTBAP logo appears at the top, and a website link is placed at the bottom. The overall design highlights a spotlight theme.
Dark blue textured background with the heading “Spotlight: African Works Longlisted for the 2026 BSFA Awards” on a red banner. The main text reads: The British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) has announced the longlist for the BSFA Awards, recognising work published in 2025. The list includes titles by African writers and artists, and Will This Be A Problem? is delighted to have two entries longlisted this year. Peter Nena’s Babies Don’t Grow in People has been longlisted for Best Shorter Fiction, while Peter Marco’s Grasps of the Forgotten has been longlisted for Best Artwork. Presented annually since 1970, these are fan-voted awards that not only seek to honour the most worthy examples in each category, but also to promote the genre of science fiction and get people reading, talking about and enjoying all that contemporary science fiction has to offer. The awards are voted on by members of the BSFA and by the members of this year’s Eastercon, the national science fiction convention, held since 1955. Longlists comprise all works nominated by at least one BSFA member. Voting is open to all BSFA members, who may select up to four works per category, and closes on February 19. Winners will be announced at this year’s Eastercon, Iridescence, taking place on April 3-6, at the Hilton Lanyon Place and the Birmingham Metropole. Thank you to everyone who nominated us, and congratulations to all who made the categories. We’re honoured to be in such great company. The WTBAP logo appears at the top, and a website link is placed at the bottom.
Spotlight: @bsfa.bsky.social Awards Longlist!
We are delighted to have 2 entries on this year’s BSFA awards longlist, courtesy of Peter Nena's novelette and Peter Marco's artwork! A big thank you to everyone who nominated us, and congrats to all African creators recognised.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
Award eligibility graphic for Lucille Sambo’s 2025 short fiction published by Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology. The design is set on a purple and teal cosmic design with subtle planets and stars. The image lists two published short stories: The Herd, published by Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine: Issue 2, July 2025. Main text reads: A thrilling horror short which makes for a magnificent entry in the canon of African horror. Goats have been a long-time staple of the horror genre, but Sambo has found ways to make them feel wholly new and deeply disquieting. Scales and Arabesques, published in Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, January 2025. Main text reads: The distance between that far-away future where they talk of the present day as the ancient past and now is contained only within the bounds of our imagination. A story where characters begin to perceive the unseen realities that coexist within and beyond the ordinary, when a Zimbabwean ballerina in Paris has a surreal encounter with an alien.
Zimbabwean writer Lucille Sambo has two stories published in our anthology and magazine, both eligible in the short story categories this awards season. If you’re nominating or voting, we’d be grateful for your support. Links below.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
This month's subscription release is now all out to subscribers, if you'd like our publications delivered to your inbox before the retail release and at a lower price consider becoming a subscriber!
#AfricanLit #AfricanSFF #booksky 📚💙
A promotional graphic for Will This Be A Problem’s Author Spotlight. The design features a circular photo of Zimbabwean writer Yvette Lisa Ndlovu set against a dark orange patterned background with wavy line patterns. Below the photo, her name is displayed in teal lettering. The WTBAP logo appears at the top and the website link placed at the bottom.
Orange textured background titled “Spotlight: Yvette Lisa Ndlovu” on an old parchment-style banner at the top. The main text reads: Yvette Lisa Ndlovu (BA, MFA) is an award-winning Zimbabwean sarungano (storyteller), editor and scholar. The Drinking from Graveyard Wells author writes AfroSurreal, literary horror and magical realist fiction that focuses on the experiences of Black women. Ndlovu is the co-founder of the Voodoonauts Summer Fellowship, which supports Black SFF writers worldwide. She earned her BA at Cornell University and her MFA at UMass Amherst. She is the Newhouse Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Wellesley College, and has also taught at UMass Amherst, Clarion West Online and the Juniper Institute for Young Writers. Her work has been supported by major fellowships and workshops, including Tin House Workshop, Bread Loaf Writers Workshop and the New York State Summer Writers Institute. Her novel manuscript-in-progress was selected by George R. R. Martin for the Worldbuilder Scholarship. She is the recipient of the 2023 Philip Freund Prize for Creative Writing, the 2017 George Harmon Coxe Award for Poetry, the 2020 fiction prize from Columbia Journal’s Womxn History Month Special Issue and the 2021 Black Warrior Review Fiction Contest. She has also received a Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship to support her second book and is a 2025 finalist for the DAG Prize for Literature. Her work has been anthologised in the World Fantasy Award–winning Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2021 and the NAACP Award–nominated Africa Risen (Tor). Her fiction has also appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Tor.com, Fantasy Magazine, Columbia Journal, FIYAH Literary Magazine, Lightspeed, Rosarium Publishing, Will This Be A Problem? and elsewhere. She is currently working on a novel. The WTBAP logo appears at the top and a website link placed at the bottom.
Author Spotlight: @yvettel.bsky.social
Get to know more about revered Zimbabwean writer and Tin House scholar Yvette Lisa Ndlovu. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, and there’s more to come.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙🧵
Our own website shop is now complete, all items added!😅
The standing 50% discount for all African currencies is in effect here too.
#AfricanLit #AfricanSFF #booksky 📚💙
Award eligibility graphic for Victor Forna’s 2025 short stories published by Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology. The design is set on a dark teal background with subtle cosmic illustration and orange accents. The title reads: Victor Forna | 2025 Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration The graphic lists the following: Bullets & Blossoms, Isele Magazine Quarterly / Ephemeral Moments / Issue 13, April 2025 Main text reads: An experiment inspired by a real-life incident. The issue explores the fleeting beauty of life’s impermanence. Mr. Original Swag, published in Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, January 2025 Main text reads: Follows a flamboyant otherworldly being who will dance you out of the world. He offers an escape from the mundane, but at a steep price. The gods neither care about nor hate us but simply toy with us for their amusement. Through a TV show held somewhere in between space and time, an unfortunate contestant laments the side effects of cutting deals with these immortal beings that defy human understanding.
Here is work published by Sierra Leone’s Victor Forna in 2025, and where to find it. If you're nominating this award season, for your consideration are his two short stories.
Links below.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
A promotional graphic for Will This Be A Problem’s Author Spotlight. The design features a circular photo of Nigerian writer Plangdi Neple set against a purple patterned background with wavy line patterns. Below the photo, his name is displayed in teal lettering. The WTBAP logo appears at the top and the website link placed at the bottom.
Purple textured background titled “Spotlight: Plangdi Neple” on an old parchment-style banner at the top. The main text reads: Plangdi Neple is an acclaimed Nigerian speculative fiction writer and co-editor at Anathema: Spec from the Margins. His work largely draws inspiration from Nigerian myth, folklore and tradition. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Strange Pilgrims, Anathema, Omenana, FIYAH, Baffling, Cast of Wonders, Uncharted Magazine, Translunar Traveler’s Lounge, African Writer Magazine, Flame Tree’s Werewolf Short Stories, The Deadland’s Afterlives: The Year’s Best Death Fiction, and Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine, among others. Plangdi is a Voodoonauts Fellow, a Clarion West alumnus and a co-recipient of the Milford 2024 Bursary. He is also the recipient of the Brave New Weird Award for his story Not All Your Bones Are Yours. His story Bodies of Sand and Blood (Cast of Wonders) was shortlisted for the 2025 Nommo Awards in the Best Short Story category. Other notable works include Hidden Figures (Omenana), Oasis (Phano), Happy Dancing Rejects (Flame Tree Publishing), How to Rob a Bullion Van (Baffling), Full, Empty Houses (Kaleidotrope), Of Dreams, Wires and Nightmares (Translunar Travelers Lounge) and Non-Remembrance (Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine). His upcoming short story in Strange Pilgrims explores revenge, ghost children, queerness, and angry women. When he’s not reading, Plangdi can often be found watching old films or working through complex engineering problems. The WTBAP logo appears at the top and the website link placed at the bottom.
Author Spotlight: @plangdineple.bsky.social
Get to know more about award-winning Nigerian writer and editor Plangdi Neple. Explore his work, which has appeared in numerous publications, including the short story "Non-Remembrance”, in our second magazine issue.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙🧵
Award eligibility graphic for Khaya Maseko’s 2025 short story published by Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology. The design is set on a dark teal background with subtle cosmic illustration and green accents. The title reads: Khaya Maseko | 2025 Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration The graphic lists Acceptance, published in Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, January 2025. Main text reads: A lyrical, time-distortion tale about an artificially created freedom fighter trapped between dimensions. This high punk sci-fi examines the idea of revolution and violent resistance as the only solution to increasingly oppressive systems that target vulnerable populations. It has stylistically brilliant future-building, complete with cool tech and anti-capitalistic rebellion. Follow along as “Acceptance” destroys time itself, removing the present from the past, the many versions of reality colliding, co-existing, co-forming simultaneously.
Here’s what you need to know about Khaya Maseko’s short fiction published in 2025. The South African writer and poet would appreciate your consideration in the relevant categories this award season.
Link below.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
Award eligibility graphic for Matseliso Motsoane’s 2025 short story published by Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology. The design is set on a purple background with subtle cosmic illustration and olive green accents. The title reads: Matseliso Motsoane | Award Eligibility – For Your Consideration The graphic lists Baby Potion, published in Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V, January 2025. Main text reads: Circumstances force a woman to reexamine the seemingly commonplace details of her life, uncovering truths that force her to reconcile with a reality she was never meant to understand. Lebo, desperate to conceive, moves through a world where whispers travel fastest through the hiss of hairdryers and the rhythm of braids being tightened. Motsoane turns the beauty salon into a kind of informal intelligence agency, a place where truth, suspicion, and female intuition collide. Is it her husband? Her mother-in-law? A rival woman meddling with biology or magic? The story carries the intrigue of a domestic thriller but lands somewhere more surprising, more playful, and more thoughtful than the setup promises.
Today we’re highlighting Matseliso Motsoane, a writer and researcher from Lesotho. Take a moment to read her story, and if you’re nominating this award season, we’d appreciate your support in the short story category.
Link below.
#AfricanSFF 🪐📚💙
